Must reverse massive debt, restore freedom

Tuesday

Dec 31, 2013 at 12:01 AMDec 31, 2013 at 7:20 PM

Let me start with a quote from “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville: “...a central administration enervates the nations in which it exists by incessantly diminishing their public spirit. If such an administration succeeds in condensing at a given moment, on a given point, all the disposable resources of a people, it impairs at least the renewal of those resources. It may ensure a victory in the hour of strife, but it gradually relaxes the sinews of strength. It may contribute admirably to the transient greatness of a man, but cannot ensure the durable prosperity of a nation.”

Bob Palmitier

To the editor:

Let me start with a quote from “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville: “...a central administration enervates the nations in which it exists by incessantly diminishing their public spirit. If such an administration succeeds in condensing at a given moment, on a given point, all the disposable resources of a people, it impairs at least the renewal of those resources. It may ensure a victory in the hour of strife, but it gradually relaxes the sinews of strength. It may contribute admirably to the transient greatness of a man, but cannot ensure the durable prosperity of a nation.”

What does that mean in today’s society? Quite simply, if we continue to allow the various government entities to create and manage a nanny state in which every aspect of our lives are dictated to us through legislation or executive orders, we will gradually decline into total subservience. We have everything from education, energy, the food we eat, the cars we drive and now our health care needs controlled by the government.

This country was founded based on the concept of sovereignty of the people and personal freedoms. Over the years this has slowly degenerated into a government-controlled society. Some portions of society enjoy and encourage this governmental control because they have already evolved into dependence. If the government does not provide these things, they cannot get them for themselves. This comes at a great cost to the remainder of society in increased taxes and greater controls applied to all. And as this increases, the “durable prosperity of a nation” will suffer.

President Barack Obama, a majority of Congress and our current Supreme Court support the concept of a centralized federal government because it guarantees them control, both now and in the future. They don’t want to use the term “socialism,” but that is exactly what centralized administration is.

We are drastically indebted, with no means to overcome the situation. Since the means to create new prosperity is in a stranglehold by the government, we cannot develop the resources to escape this mess. The global command that the United States has had for the past century is based far more on economic position than on military power. If we don’t do something to reverse this trend of government control creating massive debt, we are doomed to become a second-class nation.